Ryan Gosling Is Secretly A Jedi In Starfighter (Star Wars Theory Explained)

Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com Published Aug 25, 2026, 9:45 AM EDT George is a film critic and journalist with over nine years of experience in the entertainment industry. Beginning as the Co-Creator and Co-Editor of Star Wars Holocron, the most followed Star Wars fan account on Twitter/X, George went on to develop The HoloFiles, a movie and television-focused website with his brother and writing partner Josh. A member of the Hollywood Creative Alliance, Chicago Indie Critics, Online Film and Television Association, and the Internet Film Critic Society, George has covered major industry events as credentialed media, including D23, CinemaCon, SXSW, Fantastic Fest, Star Wars Celebration, Tribeca Festival, and more. He also regularly writes reviews and contributes articles to ScreenAnarchy, BRWC, Film Obsessive, TV Obsessive, and Under the Radar. George's work has been featured in various esteemed publications, including the BBC, Associated Press, Forbes, and The New York Times. Attendees at this year’s D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event were recently treated to the world-exclusive first look at Star Wars: Starfighter, the upcoming film from director Shawn Levy and Hollywood star Ryan Gosling. The duo spoke about their collaboration in a galaxy far, far away at the convention, revealed the name and backstory for Gosling’s mysterious protagonist, and teased what’s to come when Starfighter hits theaters next May. Initially announced at Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025, Star Wars: Starfighter will take place five years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Levy and screenwriter Jonathan Tropper have repeatedly described the film as a standalone movie blissfully unconnected to previous Star Wars stories. Gosling leads an ensemble cast for Star Wars: Starfighter that includes Amy Adams, Aaron Pierre, Mia Goth, Matt Smith, and newcomer Flynn Gray, who is seemingly positioned as the central character of the film. Claudio Miranda, known for his work on Top Gun: Maverick and F1: The Movie, is handling the cinematography for the film, while 15-time Academy Award-nominated composer Thomas Newman oversees the movie’s music. With not much known about Starfighter, any and all details about the film are subject to immense speculation and, after D23 2026, a theory has emerged that Ryan Gosling will play a Jedi in the movie. Kade's Character Description Teases A "Mysterious Past” At D23, Ryan Gosling’s character name was confirmed to be Kade Auberon. Fans of Star Wars Legends / the Expanded Universe will recognize the name Kade, albeit spelled slightly differently, given the prominence of Cade Skywalker, a bounty hunter, pirate, and great-great-grandson of Luke Skywalker, in the Star Wars: Legacy comic book series. In addition to sharing the same first name with a key Jedi from Star Wars Legends, Ryan Gosling’s character is further teased in an official plot description for the film published on StarWars.com. The description reads, “In Starfighter, when a cynical rogue is confronted by his mysterious past, he is hurled into a dangerous adventure across the galaxy that puts him on a crash course with destiny.” The reference to a “mysterious past” suggests that there is more to Kade Auberon than initially meets the eye. In Legends, a young Cade Skywalker abandoned his Jedi training when his father was killed and subsequently adopted a more self-destructive lifestyle as a smuggler and bounty hunter. Some may even say he became a “cynical rogue.” While Star Wars: Starfighter will obviously not adapt Cade Skywalker’s story from Legends to canon exactly as it was initially mapped out, there are just a few similarities to ignore between Cade Skywalker and Kade Auberon. The official plot description confirms that Gosling’s character is more than just a pilot and the owner of the fastest starship in the galaxy and the fact that he shares a name with a legendary Jedi from the Expanded Universe suggests that maybe Kade Auberon was once a Jedi. Lightsabers Are Confirmed To Appear In Starfighter Further solidifying the theory that Gosling will play a Jedi in Star Wars: Starfighter is confirmation that lightsabers will appear in Levy’s film. The presence of lightsabers was initially teased back in April 2025 at Star Wars Celebration Japan as the sound of an ignited lightsaber humming loudly accompanied the logo presentation for Star Wars: Starfighter. Months later, a widely circulated report came out that Tom Cruise visited the set of the film and operated the camera to shoot a lightsaber duel in ankle-deep mud and pond water. Where there is a lightsaber, there tends to be a Jedi, meaning Star Wars: Starfighter may very well feature at least one Jedi in a prominent role. Admittedly, the lightsaber(s) could be wielded by characters played by Aaron Pierre, Mia Goth, or Matt Smith, but it’s also possible that Levy and Tropper decide to put a lightsaber into the hands of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Ryan Gosling May Be The Connective Tissue To Episode X Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures via MovieStillsDB Star Wars: Starfighter exists in an interesting and, to date, unexplored period of the Star Wars timeline. Taking place five years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker means that Levy’s film is set further along in the Star Wars canon timeline than any story to date. As Levy and Gosling have been hard at work on Starfighter, Simon Kinberg has been actively developing a new trilogy of Star Wars films, described by Kathleen Kennedy at one point as the next saga of the franchise. Kinberg’s trilogy is heavily rumored to be Episodes X, XI, and XII, which would make sense given trade reports that Disney and Lucasfilm see Daisy Ridley’s Rey as one of the franchise’s most viable on-screen characters. With hardly any news about the New Jedi Order movie in recent years and the unfortunate cancellation of Steven Soderbergh’s The Hunt for Ben Solo, it seems more likely than ever that Kinberg’s films will indeed continue the stories of Rey Skywalker, Ben Solo, and others. Coupled with speculation that Daisy Ridley’s Rey may appear in Starfighter, one can’t help but view Levy’s film as a bridge between the sequel trilogy and Kinberg’s new saga. If indeed Starfighter serves as the connective tissue between Episodes IX and X, the possibility of Ryan Gosling playing a Jedi in the movie seems even more likely. Perhaps the best way to build hype for Kinberg’s upcoming trilogy is to introduce a massive movie star as a Jedi in Starfighter, only to then weave the character into the broader narrative of the saga. Even if Gosling is not revealed to be a Jedi in Starfighter, one of the joys of being a Star Wars fan is the ability to take meager crumbs from upcoming stories and extrapolate with theories. Ever since the original trilogy, Star Wars fans have engaged in such speculation, with varying degrees of accuracy. In looking ahead at Levy’s film ahead of its May 28, 2027 release date, the few tidbits of information revealed about Star Wars: Starfighter suggest that Gosling may very well be playing a lightsaber-wielding Jedi in the movie, who may or may not be a loose canon adaptation of Cade Skywalker. If so, Lucasfilm may be setting the stage for a sequel trilogy to the sequel trilogy in which one of the biggest movie stars on the planet plays a prominent role. Star Wars: Starfighter Release Date May 28, 2027 Director Shawn Levy Writers Jonathan Tropper Producers Shawn Levy, Kathleen Kennedy Franchise(s) Star Wars This upcoming standalone Star Wars feature is set following the events of The Rise of Skywalker.